January 18th, 2014

This time a year ago, Louisiana Tech’s Ryan Allen and Quinton Patton were like so many other folks around the country: gearing up to watch the Super Bowl.
Today?
They’re on the verge of playing in the world championship game.
Allen and his New England Patriot teammates will go after an AFC championship against the Broncos in Denver.
At Seattle, Patton and his cohorts on the San Francisco 49ers will seek an NFC crown against the Seahawks.
The winners advance to the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Ever since Louisiana Tech’s season ended last year in National Invitation Tournament action in Reed Green Coliseum at the hands of Southern Miss, the Bulldogs have known they were joining Conference USA where they would eventually get their rematch with the Golden Eagles.
That day has come in a nationally-televised game on Fox Sports 1 at noon today with Adam Alexander calling the play by play and Dan Bonner as the analyst.

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GREENVILLE, N.C. — East Carolina freshman J’Kyra Brown came off the bench to score a career-high 29 points and the Pirates shot 61 percent for the game as ECU won its 22nd straight home game with an 86-55 victory over Louisiana Tech Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena.

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The Grambling State basketball teams both fell in home action Saturday against Texas Southern. The Tigers dropped a heartbreaker as Texas Southern took a 74-72 win. The G-Men fell to 1-13 overall and 0-5 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference while TSU is now 7-9 and 3-1. Antwan Scott (5), pictured above at left, led GSU with 25 points, including a six-of-nine 3-point shooting performance. The GSU women fell to 6-10 overall and 3-2 in the SWAC as Texas Southern (6-9, 3-1) won 77-63. Joanna Miller (23), pictured above at right, led GSU with 18 points.

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Cedar Creek quarterback Mark Van and Ruston quarterback Ben LeBlanc are best friends off the field, so it’s only fitting that the pair were two of the top award winners on the 2013 All-Lincoln Parish team as announced by the Ruston Daily Leader.
Van had the numbers to edge past his friend to become the first team signal caller on the All-Parish team and the Bert Jones Offensive Player of the Year Award winner, but LeBlanc’s tenacious play, including a game in which he led the Bearcats to a win after being sick all week, earned him the nod as the 2013 Kyle Williams Spirit Award winner.

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The Ruston High Lady Bearcats fell to 11-9 overall and 0-2 in District 2-5A Friday as they dropped a 52-37 home contest to Pineville.
A sluggish start doomed the Lady Bearcats as they managed only four first quarter points and 12 in the first half.
Rae Renthrope led Ruston with a 10-point performance while Keke Wright and Aaliyah Jones added seven points each.
Ruston will next play host to West Monroe on Tuesday.
La. New Tech 45,
Grambling Lab 24
PLAIN DEALING — Grambling Lab remains winless in District 1-1A play as the Lady Kittens fell on the road Friday at La. New Tech.

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After the confirmed death of a child in a Shreveport hospital recently, if residents haven’t already begun, now is the time to think of preventative measures they can take to safeguard themselves and their family against the flu.
Each year, the flu kills more than 36,000 Americans.
Assisstant Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Public Health J.T. Lane said it is not too late to vaccinate.

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“The spoken discourse may roll on strongly as the great tidal wave; but, like the wave, it dies at last feebly on the sands. It is heard by few, remembered by still fewer, and fades away, like an echo in the mountains, leaving no token of power. It is the written human speech that gave power and permanence to human thought.”
Albert Pike wrote this, but it could just as easily have been written by Wiley Hilburn. Wiley has now passed on. I, along with many, will truly miss him.

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Success is a journey, not a destination. This year Choudrant High School received the school letter grade of an “A,” and we must remind ourselves that this success is part of a journey, and not our destination.

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As recently as 2006, when I transferred to Louisiana Tech University, the tour for potential journalism students included a stop in Wiley Hilburn’s office to view his own personal “Hall of Fame.”
Upon that wall hung the photos of past Tech Talk editors who now work at some of the most prestigious news publications and magazines across the country.
When Ms. Sallie Rose Hollis, my then adviser and now friend, showed me those photos, I knew I’d chosen the right place to finish my studies.
And, I assume like other recruits, I was eager to earn my place on that wall.

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